When we have run our passion’s heat,
Love hither makes his best retreat.
The gods, that mortal beauty chase,
Still in a tree did end their race:
Apollo hunted Daphne so,
Only that she might laurel grow.
—Andrew Marvell, The Garden, 1681
Originally, these little French almond cakes were called visitandines, after the order of nuns who used to bake them, called the Order of the Visitation. Some say that the cakes were created to avoid waste. The sisters used egg yolks as an emulsifier to make paint for their artwork, leaving them with lots of leftover whites.
This is fascinating to me because the origin story of one of my most favorite pastries, the pastel de nata, is that the monks in the Jerónimos Monastery in the parish of Santa Maria de Belém in Lisbon needed a way to use up all their egg yolks left over from using egg whites to starch clothes.
It’s a good thing that intercontinental communication was more limited in the distant past, because our world would be all the poorer without these classic recipes perfected by innumerable bakers over hundreds of years.
One such baker was Lasne, who in the 19th century had a pâtisserie in Paris’ financial district. In order to appeal to his banker clients, he used little rectangular molds, such that the cakes came out looking like little ingots of gold. He named them financiers, in what I’m sure was a brilliant stroke of marketing genius.
Financiers have the loveliest and most balanced texture—a slight chewiness without a hint of toughness (there is only a very small quantity of gluten in the recipe) with a rich, fatty crumb from all the butter that is still somehow light with the use of only egg whites and no leavening.
These ones were infused with some leaves from my pride and joy plant, my petite bay laurel tree.
The herbaceousness is subtle but present, a je-ne-sais-quoi that is offset nicely by the punchiness of blackberry and richness of brown butter.
I used a glossy Italian meringue to dress these up, and it becomes almost marshmallowy when allowed to set at room temperature.
These truly don’t need any adornment—to have put fruit into financiers at all makes them more of a friand (though now I am truly splitting hairs)—but it’s a fun way to make them look like the chicest cupcakes ever.
Beurre Noisette, previously:
Brown Butter Molasses Cookies
Brown Butter and Molasses Cupcakes
Toasted Black Sesame Pie
Brown Butter Bourbon Persimmon Bundt Cake
Brown Butter Applesauce Cake
Sansa’s Lemon Cakes
Pumpkin Meringue Tart
Classic Banana Cake with Speculoos Glaze
Blackberry and Bay Financiers
makes 14 medium sized financiers, 28 small
financier recipe from Kristina Razon
ingredients:
for the blackberry curd:
150 grams (4 ounces, 2/3 of a pint) blackberries
1 egg
2 egg yolks
60 grams (4 tablespoons) butter
100 grams (1/2 cup) sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
15 grams (1 tablespoon) fresh lemon juice
for the financiers:
3 small bay leaves (or 1 large)
300 grams (20 tablespoons) butter
200 grams (2 cups) almond flour
120 grams (1 cup) flour
360 grams (3 cups) powdered sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
8 egg whites
14 large blackberries
for the Italian meringue:
3 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon salt
150 grams (3/4 cup) sugar
directions:
Make the blackberry curd: cook blackberries on low heat until falling apart; mash them up or blend them and strain through fine mesh sieve to remove the seeds.
Whisk blackberry purée, egg, egg yolk, sugar, salt, and lemon juice together very well.
Meanwhile, make the financiers: preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease 14 wells of 2 muffin tins very well with butter.
Heat over low heat, whisking constantly, until thickened and glossy, about 10 to 12 minutes.
Whisk in the butter until emulsified, then set aside to cool completely with plastic wrap pressed to the surface to prevent a film from forming.
Meanwhile, make the financiers: brown butter with bay leaves and set aside to cool to room temperature.
Remove the bay leaves and sift almond flour, flour, powdered sugar, and salt together over the browned butter.
Stir together until about halfway incorporated, then add the egg whites and fold together until homogeneous.
Portion out into prepared greased muffin tins and push a blackberry lightly into the center of each cake.
Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick comes out with just grease and a few moist crumbs.
Allow to cool completely.
Make the Italian meringue: place sugar, salt, and water into a pan over medium heat.
Begin to whip egg whites on high; once the sugar syrup comes to 240 degrees F, the egg whites should be at soft peaks.
Slowly stream the hot syrup into the whipping egg whites, being extremely careful to not splatter the syrup.
Whip on high speed until the meringue has cooled to close to room temperature.
Pipe onto cooled cakes in whatever shape you desire (I used a petal tip, Wilton #104).
Use the back of a spoon to make a divot in the meringue.
Spoon blackberry curd into the divot.
Serve within a day of making/assembling.